An Honest Remake of a Classic Malayalam Feminist Drama

RATING – ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5*

Mrs Review Movie Talkies:

I was blown away by Jeo Baby’s The Great Indian Kitchen when I saw it on release day during the lockdown. Somehow, I found it relatable and very painful at the same time. I know that pain—not fully, but somewhat—because I do all the dishwashing and cleaning when my mom goes out for functions or trips. The kitchen becomes dirty even when I try my best to keep it clean because nobody can actually maintain it like a woman can. But this fact also resonates with the value of a woman in the household. We men sit in an air-conditioned room at the office and think we are working harder than the woman who is handling the kitchen, and The Great Indian Kitchen showed how wrong that misogynistic culture is. Mrs is a simple remake, with no extra effort, that looks pretty honest to the original classic work.

Mrs Review Story:

Mrs is the story of a trained dancer, Richa (Sanya Malhotra), who gets married to a gynecologist, Diwakar (Nishant Dahiya), by her choice. Though it’s an arranged marriage, she gets to choose her partner after spending some time with him. She first experience the bliss of married life, and then things start getting difficult for her. She is not allowed to pursue her passion for dance, she is not permitted to work, she has to do all the household duties, she has to please her husband in bed even when she’s exhausted, and she has to remain silent when he humiliates her in front of others and calls it a joke. She also has to keep working in the same kitchen with a leaking tap and its stagnant odor. What should she do now?

Copying the Malayalam classic frame by frame, Mrs makes some changes here and there. The male lead is a doctor, and the family seems to live in an urban area, which strips away the typical traditional and patriarchal relevance of an orthodox family. It’s illogical to see a doctor behaving so rudely and even talking about mechanical sex despite being an expert in female anatomy. That’s a significant mistake by the writer. Nevertheless, the storytelling is too good to point a finger at, despite a few negligible flaws. You know, this film has many silent moments that need to be viewed carefully. The woman is going through her menstrual cycle, and at the same time, a frame shows a leaking pipe. That’s quite a powerful alignment of metaphorical reflection. When she is asked not to go out to work by her father-in-law, she remains silent in the main hall but goes to the kitchen to cry. That’s a universal metaphor any woman can relate to because her kitchen is her world, while the hall belongs to the men in the family and the bedroom belongs to the husbands. She shouts at her mother for the inequality she has been supporting for years in her own house. It’s pretty much like an anti-feminist film at that moment, along with one more, as the mother-in-law is more interested in household duties than in her Ph.D. degree and career. Thanks to the original Malayalam classic for those meaningful and subtle moments that I haven’t forgotten for four years now, and Mrs gave me a chance to revisit them in mainstream Hindi format.

Sanya Malhotra has performed well in the lead role, and I can say that the entire film belongs to her. She may not be as great as Nimisha Sajayan in the original film, but for the Hindi remake, she has justified her casting quite well. Nishant Dahiya and Kanwaljit Singh are the two men that will make you hate them, despise them, and curse them; however, you know their qualifications don’t match their mindsets. Nevertheless, that has nothing to do with their performances, which were decent. Aparna Ghoshal, Mrinal Kulkarni, Gulista, Loveleen Mishra, and others have small roles, but they have been highly supportive.

Regarding technical aspects, I am satisfied with a few elements, such as cinematography, editing, and production design. However, the film appears dull because of the music and the use of songs that spoil the intensity of the scenes. Not a single good number exists, but forget that; how can you use such bad songs during those important scenes and make them feel disengaged? The scattered nature of the club vibes in those songs distracts us from the narrative’s essence. Arati Kadav’s only mistake is using songs, and more importantly, using them at the wrong times. Kadav finally created something in her filmography that can be recommended for a one-time watch. Mrs. is more than that if you haven’t seen the original film. It’s an anti-misogynist film that I, as a man, loved and would like to recommend to other men as well. The Sabarimala verdict was utilized effectively in The Great Indian Kitchen, but this film skipped that. It also skipped a few moments in between, but it keeps the soul alive. Thanks to the entire team for not spoiling the original essence, even though they have tried to undermine the soul of the characters and atmosphere. Overall, it’s an honest remake that offers nothing new but definitely carries a very important message.